Page 167 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

168 Deception at Work

Law or regulation What you can do
What the chattering classes say you cannot do How to do it

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 You can. He is entitled, however, not to disclose

You cannot ask about a person’s criminal convictions ‘spent’ convictions

Telecommunications (Data Protection and You can with appropriate authority. See page
Privacy) Regulations 1999 [xref]
You cannot intercept communications

Telecommunications (Lawful Business
Practice)(Interception of Communications)
Regulations
You cannot intercept communications

Telecommunications Act 1984 There is an exception for the investigation of
You cannot obtain call log data (Section 45) any criminal offence
Pretext calls are ‘offensive’ and contravene Section
43
Pretext calls are illegal because they are a ‘nuisance’

Theft Act 1978 et seq You can under controlled conditions. See page
You cannot carry out pretext investigations [xref]
You cannot carry out trash searches
You can. See page [xref]

Trespass (Civil) You can. If you are asked to leave, you must
You cannot enter onto enclosed premises to pick up do so. There is an offence under Section 4 of
trash the Vagrancy Act 1861 of being in enclosed
premises for an unlawful purpose

Wireless and Telegraphy Act 1948 You can, providing they are of an approved
You cannot use bugging devices type and, when communications transmissions
are being intercepted, comply with RIPA

Wireless and Telegraphy Regulations 2001 You can, especially when the prevention or
You cannot use bugging devices detection of crime is concerned
You cannot intercept communications There is no restriction providing only magnetic
You cannot fit a tracking device to a vehicle attachments are used and there is no damage
personally owned by a suspect to property. There is similarly no breach of RIPA
or the Wireless and Telegraphy Acts

A reason can always be found for doing nothing and it is true that great care has to be taken
in all investigations. The best protection is always to work with experienced litigation lawyers
and professional investigators.

Intelligence and evidence

INTELLIGENCE

A phrase often heard in investigations is: ‘We know he did it, but we don’t have any evidence’.
This is rarely correct. In many investigations information (or intelligence, which is essentially
the same thing and consists of knowledge, suspicions, deductions and extrapolations made
therefrom) is uncovered suggesting that X did Y or something else happened. Often intel-